


Camp Blacklake

by chevre_mere



Category: Homestuck
Genre: (THERE'S NO INCEST I PROMISE. EWW), (tags will be updated as the story goes along), AU, Agender Rose, Animal Death, Character Death, Closeted Trans Character, Coming Out, Demiboy Dirk, F/F, M/M, MAJOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, Monsters, Romance, Suicide Attempt, Trans Dave Strider, Trans Jade Harley, Trans Jake English, Trans Jane Crocker, Trans John Egbert, Trans Roxy Lalonde, Violence, alternative universes, jake and john and dave and jane are ftm!, roxy and jade are mtf!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-11-28 22:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11427069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chevre_mere/pseuds/chevre_mere
Summary: “You boys should be more excited,” she smiles her big bucktoothed smile, “I’m sure you'll have a wonderful time.”“What makes you so sure?” John shoots her a look that he's not quite sure she noticed.Jolene laughs, “well, you really never know what will happen or who you'll meet at Camp Blacklake!”--eight children gather at a place in the woods known as camp blacklake to spend their summer vacation.what happens changes their lives forever.





	1. Into The Woods

The car’s engine roars, fighting an epic battle against the noisy road of rocks and dirt. The sun shines and warms Jolene’s silver hair though the car window as she leads her stead through the loud war clashing around them. She offhandedly glances through the driver’s mirror and into the backseat, where her two grandsons, Jake and John, are sitting, and chatting.

“Did you boys know I went to this very camp when I was younger?” She converses, ending John’s spur to his younger brother about Nintendo.

“You've told us before, grandma,” John answers, resting his elbow on the car window and cupping his cheek with his palm.

“You boys should be more excited,” she smiles her big bucktoothed smile, “I’m sure you'll have a wonderful time.”

“What makes you so sure?” John shoots her a look that he's not quite sure she noticed.

Jolene laughs, “well, you really never know what will happen or who you'll meet at Camp Blacklake!”

“I’m just worried about not getting to share a cabin with John,” Jake tugs on his seatbelt, letting it retract and snap back to his chest when he lets go.

John raises an eyebrow, “you know you can't follow me all your life, Jake.”

His little brother shoots him a dejected look, “what's that supposed to mean?”

John sputters and tries to find his words, “no, I just meant…”

The car skids to a stop.

“Look alive, boys,” Jolene looks back at them, “it's your first day at Camp Blacklake!”

John sighs, and eyes Jake from the corner of his eyes, and he whispers in a sarcastic tone, “I can't wait to spend my _whole summer_ here.”

Jake, being the attempted optimist he is, smiles their grandmother’s bucktoothed smile at John, “maybe it won't be so bad,” he whispers, unbuckling his seatbelt.

John straightens out his backwards cap and rolls his eyes, “whatever you say, Jake.”

Jolene hands the boys their suitcases from the trunk and walks them in eagerly. John looks over, noticing his brother's nervous look. Jake seemed to be trying to be positive, but was genuinely anxious. Then John is hit with the remembrance that Jake has literally never been away from John.

Literally, never.

At least, not since before he was adopted into the family.

John’s father, Jonah, died when he was very young. John was quickly placed in the custody of his grandmother, where he met Jake. Jake was about four then, and himself five. Jake became his only friend, and the two since never separated. He started to feel an anxiety growing in the pit of his stomach as well, but tried to ignore it by looking at some of the other families around. He could only see one; a tall woman with two girls with unnaturally coloured hair.

The taller of the two brothers stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks forward. Jolene talks to the head counselor, a younger woman in about her 30s. Long, white dyed hair, streaked green, with a green suit and a fancy red bowtie.

“I’m here for Jake English and John Egbert,” her words are spoken softly, but with earnest excitement and confidence.

“Oh! Well, let's see….” She searches her pile - a very thin stack, can't be more than 10 papers.

Her eyes are clouded for a moment or so, until she plucks two slips of papers from the pile and holds them out.

“Mister John Egbert, and Mister Jake English! Here we go,” the boys both take their slips, less than eager, but desperate to get this all over with.

“What cabin number did you get?” Jake asks immediately.

“Slow down,” John responds, with a heavy sigh, glancing over the sheet, “I’m cabin 4, right next to the lake.”

Jake’s face falls, “I got cabin 2,” he quickly looks up to the head counselor, “is there anyway I can change cabins?”

“Oh, honey,” her eyebrows furrow in pity, “I’m sorry, but no…”

John tries to imitate Jake, doing his best to look on the bright side. He places a hand on Jake’s shoulder, “well, uh.. It’s… only a cabin away… or is it two? You can always walk over if you need anything.”

“I… I guess,” Jake seems to look a bit better after hearing this.

“Here’s your official Camp Blacklake t-shirts,” the counselor hands them two white t-shirts, with the words “CAMP BLACKLAKE!” engraved on a decal of the entrance sign, in a dull light navy blue, with a few flowers surrounding it.

“My name’s Calliope, and I’ll be your counselor for the summer, it’s so lovely to meet you! Please change in the bathrooms just over there,” Calliope points behind them.

John and Jake share glances and head over.

“This is so fucking stupid,” John complains, not noticing Jake flinching at the curse word, “why can’t I just stay home and play the NES all day?”

Jake shrugs, “grandma thought we weren’t getting out of the house enough… we don’t have many friends, you know.”

John stares at Jake for a moment. He knows there’s no rebuttal to the truth. He, instead, grumbles quietly and removes his hat and shirt, tugging on the binder hidden under, to adjust it. He sighs and pulls on the tee over his figure. He notices Jake struggling to fix the straps of his own binder, and chuckles softly. His dorky little bro.

“Hey, lemme help,” he walks over and runs his thumb and index finger on the fabric to even the straps out.

Jake smiles gratefully at his big brother, who’s putting his cap back on, and slides his t-shirt on.

“Maybe… it won’t be so bad?” Jake says, as if pitching some kind of suggestion.

John looks at the two of them through the old, handprint stained mirror on the wall, “maybe, Jakey… maybe.”

“Boys,” Jolene coos as the boys step out. She holds up her camera, “smile!”

John rolls his eyes, “grandma, please.”

Nonetheless, he smiles for the camera, and wraps an arm around Jake’s shoulder. The littler brother winks and gives the camera two finger pistols.

Once the camera clicks a few times, Jolene lowers her stance and smiles to the boys. Jake runs and hugs her.

“Grandma, I’ll miss you,” he mumbles.

“Oh, Jakey, hun, I’ll miss you too.”

John starts to go over to his grandmother, when he sees the two girls from earlier walking over. He quickly plays it cool and leans against the door.

Jolene waves a tearful goodbye to her grandsons. Jake and John watch as their beloved grandmother turns heel and walks off into the distance.

“Are you crying?” A new voice asks.

Jake and John turn to see the two girls. The presumed older one - tall and tan, with pink hair, is looking at Jake worriedly. Jake was indeed crying, but he wipes his tears.

“I’m… okay,” he takes a deep breath.

The girl smiles, “you know, it’s okay to cry. I was crying when my mom left a bit ago, too.”

“Aw..” Jake looks at her sympathetically.

“We’ll be fine, though, okay? You’re gonna see her again at the end of the summer. Just keep your head up, work hard, and always smile, and things will work out. Just like my mom says.”

“Your mom seems cool,” Jake smiles at her, “you seem cool too.”

The tall girl giggles, “thanks! Hey, what’s your name?”

“My name is Jake! And this is my big brother, John!”

John offhandedly waves at the two.

“Nice to meet you- I’m Roxy Lalonde, and this is my sis, Rose. Say hey, Rosie!”

“Hello,” Rose curtsies, “it is quite an honour to make your acquaintances.”

Roxy grins and chuckles, pointing back at her sister with her thumb, “she’s a bit of a nerd.”

“It sounds like it,” John says. Rose shoots him a look, but he just smiles kindly at her. Rose’s defensive stance quickly melts.

“So… do you know where the other kids are?” John asks the two sisters.

“I believe they should be arriving any time near now and noon,” The younger Lalonde checks her watch, “it is still fairly early, giving the others quite some time to arrive. I do not believe there will be many of us, however, so I would not get my hopes up too much.”

“That sounds alright to me,” Jake bares his bucktoothed smile, “I can’t handle a lot of people anyways.”

“Ooh, same.” Roxy rubs her head.

There’s silence amongst the newfound friend group - an awkward, yet luckily shortlived one. Rose breaks this silence by going to the bathroom door.

“I suppose we will see you later, then?”

“Sounds okay to me,” John shrugs.

Rose gives him a blank smile, and she and her sister enter the bathroom. The brothers share a silence of their own. This time, broken by John.

“I think we should get settled into our cabins,” the older of the brothers say.

Jake nods sheepishly, “it can’t wait forever.”

“Well… remember, just a cabin down if you need anything, okay?” John turns back to Jake, who nods.

“Same to you, big brother.”

“See you.”

“You too!”

The boys awkwardly walk off in each other’s directions, the strange atmosphere only fading when Jake drops off into his cabin.

In the distance, Jolene begins to back up her car as her grandsons disappear over the hill.


	2. Of Daydreams And Daisies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> john and jake meet the striders (and get gay)? i don't fucking know dude

John reaches out for the cabin door’s knob. He looks over at the top of the hill and watches Jake enter his own cabin. When his little brother is far out of sight, he sighs. The boy props himself down on the porch and watches the sky. It's a soft blue this warm morning, filmy clouds dusting over the sky. He watches the clouds slowly move, the grass blades and daisies swaying with the gentle, loving breeze.

John suddenly realizes that no matter where you go, you always see the same sunset. Everyone does. Everyone always has; and they always will. What use was there for war and fighting? The world could be so peaceful if the world just looked at a sunset together for once. There was no reason for disagreements when everything deserved to be so peaceful.

“Hey,” John is snapped from his trance, “is this cabin 4?”

“Uh? Oh, yeah.” John looks up. A boy with tan skin, fluffy blond hair and thick sunglasses is standing there, staring down at him, “are you staying here?”

“Yeah, think so. At least, that's what my paper says.” He hands John the slip, similar to the one he himself received at the table.

John looks it over.

“Dave… Strider? Your last name’s Strider?”

The boy - Dave - nods, seemingly sheepish all of a sudden. He takes back his paper.

“Let me guess, weird name.”

“No! Actually, I think it's actually pretty cool! It reminds me of the famous movie director, Darien Strider.”

Dave looks away, “he's my oldest brother.”

“Woah, seriously?!” The raven-haired boy jumps up, “that's so cool, dude!”

“Yeah, I guess. He sorta dumped me and my other older brother here so he wouldn't have to worry about us during the summer.” The blond rubs the back of his head.

“Oh. Well that’s kind of…”

“A dick move?” Dave finishes John’s sentence for him. John just nods, not wanting to trash talk the famous director.

“You been inside the cabin yet?” Dave abruptly changes the conversation topic, presumably noting John’s discomfort with the current topic at hand. John shakes his head.

“Nah… I was just kinda zoning out until you got here. Looking at the clouds and sky and stuff.”

“I’m gonna head in to unpack, you coming with?”

“Oh, yeah, sure! Hang on, lemme get the door for you-” The taller of the two opens the door up for Dave. John watches him pass and utter a ‘thanks, dude’ in his direction. He starts to feel a different emotion pit in his stomach.

And it isn’t because he skipped out on breakfast that morning.

The cabin is huge. Not your average summer camp cabin - it has two separate rooms, plus a combo of a kitchen, dining room, and living room where you walk in. John eagerly wheels his suitcase in and looks around, awestruck by the good quality of the cabin.

“Woah,” a soft whisper from his lips, under his breath, is all he can manage. He glances over to see Dave’s reaction, but the other doesn’t appear too impressed.

“Eh. I’ve seen better.”

“Well… which room do you want?”

Dave weighs his options for a minute, mentally listing the pros and cons of the two choices. Finally, he makes his decision, grabbing his bag and treading lightly to the righthand room, closer to the camp.

“I’ll take this one. Sound fair?”

John nods, “fair! I like being by the water anyways.”

“You like swimming?” Dave lays a casual conversation starter down on the metaphorical table. John gives him a look - not one of good or bad, moreso one of thoughtfulness and reply weighing.

“I like water, but… I never learned how to swim.”

“The in-water activities are gonna be hell for you, then.”

John nervously laughs, trying to play himself off just as cool as Dave is, “yeah, maybe. I’ll probably find a way out of them.”

The boys converse rather loudly from their temporary cabin rooms while unpacking their bags. The topic switches every now and again - leaving just enough time for everything in one conversation to be said, and just enough so that the topic at hand doesn’t grow badly awkward, causing the conversation to screech to a halt. Something John notices about the way they talk to each other is how much they really have in common. It makes him feel… light? Happy? It makes him feel things he hasn’t felt before, all of them good.

Things are going pretty well, until Dave starts saying SEGA is better than Nintendo.

“No way, dude! SEGA’ll crash and burn in a few years tops,” John exclaims, folding his clothes that he pulled lazily and sloppily from his suitcase.

“Nintendo has no variety, man,” Dave shoots back, “all of it’s just Mario nowadays.”

“Uh? You’re wrong? They have Legend Of Zelda, and Pokemon is pretty new to the market as well. SEGA’s gonna lose out.”

“You wanna say that to my face?”

John starts to get up, when he hears the cabin’s screen door fling open.

“Dave? You there bro?”

“Oh, hey Dirk. I’m in here.”

Dirk? Who’s Dirk? John is suddenly hit with the sinking feeling that Dirk could be Dave’s boyfriend- but wait, why does he care? Dave is just a Nintendo hater.

Either way, John finds himself getting up and pulling the curtain on his doorframe out of the way to go take a look at the ‘Dirk’ guy. John nearly chokes on his own spit. He’s greeted with a tall, tan, broad-shouldered kid, with excellently done hair. If this guy was Dave’s boyfriend, he knew he’d have no chance now.

“Uh.. hi, Dirk.” John sputters awkwardly.

Dirk turns around and looks at him. He’s got a weird pair of triangle shades on, it’s unlike anything John’s ever seen before in his life. But then again, he’d never really seen a lot in his fifteen years besides an NES and Nintendo games.

“Hey. Are you Dave’s roommate?” Dirk leans against the table. John nods.

“Yeah… I’m John Egbert.”

“Cool, cool. I’m Dave’s older brother, Dirk Strider.”

His older brother? John feels a pang of relief in his chest, and he can’t exactly put his finger on why. John reaches out to shake Dirk’s hand. The latter has such a firm grip that John has to pull his hand back early and hold his wrist. He makes a mental note to grab his wrist brace when he’s back in his room.

Dave finally emerges from his own room after a thick, awkward tension between the two newly-met boys. Dave fistbumps Dirk and they chat for a while.

“I was trying to get to my cabin,” Dirk starts telling a story, “but I got bored and decided to look around. The place is pretty damn big.”

“What cabin number did you get?” John asks, out of curiosity, strapping his black brace to his wrist.

“Pretty sure I got cabin 2.”

John’s eyes light up, “you got the same cabin as my little brother, then.”

“Oh, sweet. What’s his name?” Dirk props himself up on the counter.

“Jake. He’s a real sweetheart,” John smiles, but then he pauses. His face drops and he shoots Dirk a look, “but mark my words, if you do anything to hurt him, you’ll regret the day you breathed your first breath.”

Dirk is speechless.

“John! Are you threatening people again?”

The three boys look up and see Jake standing in the doorway, arms akimbo. John rubs the back of his head awkwardly and looks away.

“I mean, sorta,” he mumbles, but then looks to his little brother, “but I’m only doing it to protect you, lil’ bro. Really!”

Jake sighs, “how many times do grandma and I have to tell you, threatening people doesn’t solve anything.”

He walks into the cabin, speaking all the while, “I’m very sorry about my brother, he can get a little…”

Jake trails off. John raises an eyebrow, then notices Jake staring at Dirk. Dirk doesn’t seem to notice, instead looking at his shoes.

“Um, hi,” Jake gently approaches Dirk, who looks up at him. The two are lost in each other’s eyes for a while.

“...Hey,” Dirk sputters, “are you Jake?”

Jake awkwardly nods, “um… yeah.”

“I’m.. Dirk. We’re sharing a cabin, I think,” Dirk leans back awkwardly.

“Oh-! That’s… really nice,” Jake looks away, swaying his hips gently, “um, do you want me to show you our cabin?”

“That sounds good,” Dirk says. Jake holds out his hand and helps the much taller boy off the counter. It takes a moment for the two of them to realize they’re still holding hands and break away.

“See ya, Dave,” Dirk says half-mindedly. Jake waves at John and the two boys head out.

When the door shuts and they’re both out of eyesight, John turns to glare at Dave.

“Your brother better keep his paws off mine, or else he won’t like the consequences.”

Dave just shrugs, “I can’t control what my brother does, dude.”

“I know,” John huffs, “but I’m just saying, I won’t tolerate some weird kid putting his hands all over my kid brother.”

“Nothing else to do but learn to tolerate it, then, I guess,” Dave shrugs, disappearing off into his room.

John, finally alone, heaves a long, loud sigh. He sits down at the table and stares up at the ceiling. He starts to zone out and daydream, when he hears a tap on the back window. John jumps and looks back, only to find there’s no one there. John settles back in his seat nervously.

Suddenly, he has a feeling this is going to be a long summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 1 is McUp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! half of this was written while i was in a Focking Voice Call so its probably bad??? but hey here it is
> 
> catch art and updates on the official camp blacklake tumblr- https://campblacklake.tumblr.com/ (still a W.I.P.!)
> 
> \--
> 
> ask for my tumblr and discord~


	3. Greetings And Salutations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the kids get to know each other.

“ATTENTION: all campers please report to the lake ASAP! Thank you!”

John is interrupted from his daydream by the head counselor, Calliope, speaking over the intercom. She sounds just as bright and cheery as she did prior to finding the cabins. Speaking of that, how long was it since John drifted off?

“Hey, what time is it?” John asks as Dave exits his room.

Dave pauses, and looks down to his watch, “it’s about…. 12 minutes past noon.”

“Jesus, has it really been two hours?”

“Guess so. What have you been up to?” Dave holds open the front door for John as the two of them walk out.

“Dozing off, I guess.”

“Sounds pretty tight.”

“Sure…”

The boys make their way over to the lake. Not long after, they see the rest of the campers start to arrive. When John sees Dirk and Jake walking and talking together, he squints annoyedly (mainly at Dirk), then turns his head so that he won’t have to look. The two are getting along quite well, just as good as he and Dave, if not better.

John isn’t having that at all. His brother is too young for boys, and if grandma’s not here, he has to take it upon himself to handle the situation.

“You’re too young for a boyfriend, Jake,” John says when his little brother comes up to him.

Jake blushes, “John! He’s not my boyfriend. We literally just met two hours ago.”

“Still,” John puts his hands on his hips and leans forward, giving Dirk a nasty look, “and you better not get any ideas, bub.”

Dirk ignores him and keeps his gaze forward, much to John’s anger. The Lalondes arrive shortly after, Roxy giving Jake and John a big smile.

“Roxy, hi!” Jake greets her.

“Hey, Jake!”

The two are quick to start up a conversation about the conditions of the camp. Neither seem to hold any complaints; in fact, they both seem to like it quite a bit….

….Admittedly, John is a bit jealous. Jake has already made two friends - Roxy and Dirk, whereas he’s only made one friend - Dave. He’d never say it out loud, but he’s always prided himself as ‘the cooler brother’. He’s always the one with the better scores at games and the one with the coolest clothes.

Part of him almost feels bad for it for a second.

Almost.

Two new campers that John hasn’t yet seen join the lineup - one of them tall and muscular and darkskinned, the other short and fat with pale skin. John thinks about saying hello to the two of them, in a somewhat twisted attempt to bag more friends than Jake, but he’s interrupted by Calliope flouncing up to the dock, a clipboard in her hand.

“Good afternoon, my lovely children! Welcome to Camp Blacklake! You’ll all be spending your silly summers here. Unfortunately, we’re going to be a bit…. Understaffed this summer, but, fortunately, that means you’ll get to spend more time with me! That aside, we’re going to take this time to get to know the rules and each other better!”

Her unusually long fingernails tap against the stack of papers lined neatly on her clipboard, cruising around and (supposedly) trying to find one certain section of the words written on them. Her lips purse, eyes focused. Finally, a light shines in her eyes and Calliope begins to read aloud the rules that would be binding them for their summer.

“Rule number one: no shirking any activities under any circumstances, unless you’re sick or injured.”

John groans softly. There go his plans to blow off the swimming activities in the lake.

“Rule number two: be kind and courteous to everyone, no matter what! Nobody likes a stick in the mud.”

John feels Dirk’s gaze briefly shift to him. He stares back and glares. The blond shrugs, turning back to look at Calliope.

“Rule number three: don’t violate personal space! We’ve all got a little bubble and I know nobody wants theirs popped. Try to keep yourself at least a few inches away from your fellow campers.”

Who even follows rules anymore, anyways? John starts to doubt the sanctity of the rules being listed.

“Rule number four: keep your language clean. Nobody likes a potty mouth, especially with children of your young ages. We won’t tolerate any transphobic, homophobic, racial, or ableist slurs,” Calliope’s gaze takes on a joking suspicious shift and she leans forward, “you may, however, say the occasional bad word, if you’d like.”

The tall, dark girl and Roxy both giggle. They exchange some kind of glance with an expression John isn’t quite sure he understands. Girls are so weird.

“Lastly, rule number five: try your best to have fun! The camp schedule isn’t too tight, so you’ll have free range of the camp a couple times a day. You’re here to enjoy your summer, not loathe it.”

Free range of the camp? No tight schedule? That all sounds cool, especially for John. He prided himself as a loose-cannon cop, one who hung out outside of schools with a popped collar and flirted with girls. Or guys - he doesn’t really have much of a preference, after all.

John looks to Jake, who notices his look and returns the stare, giving a happy bucktoothed smile. John gives him a thumbs up. Maybe things won’t be so bad after all.

“Now, if we could all make our way to the Mess Hall, that would be absolutely fantastic! Follow me, my sweet kids!”

Calliope spins and turns heel, skipping off. The rest of the kids join her, all awkwardly walking next to each other.

The Mess Hall is all the way at the other end of the camp, about a five minute walk. Everyone seems tentative, not in the bad way, just more or less… awkward. No matter; the awkwardness lifts a little once they arrive. John goes to sit next to Jake, when Dirk swipes his spot and starts doing his casanova thing. John clenches his fist and grits his teeth. He grabs Dirk’s shoulder.

“How the fuck did you get here, _Dirk?_ ” His name spoken like poison, “who the FUCK gave you an invitation to sit next to my brother? Huh? Huh?”

Everyone looks at them. Dirk just cocks his eyebrow ever so slightly, “uh…”

Jake’s face burns red, tears stinging his eyes, threatening to spill, as he speaks through gritted teeth, “ _John…_ ”

“I’m not letting this weirdo come onto you, Jake - honestly! He must be at least 17. Jake is 14, you creep.”

Dirk gives him a look that’s a mixture of some kind of disgust and confusion, and he stands, looming over John (who suddenly isn’t feeling too hot - mainly at the height difference), and he finally speaks up, “dude, I’m 15. And I’m just nice to Jake ‘cause I think he’s cool. Why don’t you just dial it back a bit?”

He looks to Jake, then gets up, moving to the table furthest from him. Jake gives John a look of pure disdain and fury, then turns away, refusing to look at him. John feels regret pit in his stomach, as he hesitantly sits on the bench of the table opposite of Jake.

Calliope, noticing the situation had diffused, awkwardly looks around, “oooookay, well, uhm… let’s get acquainted, shall we?”

The eight children are silent. Calliope rubs the back of her head.

“Ahah, very… eager of you, campers! I’ll get us started. My name’s Calliope, I run this camp with my twin brother, Caliborn. Our mom was… creative with names, if you couldn’t tell. What made me want to pursue this job, you may ask? Well, when I was your age, I went to this very camp! I had lots and lots of fun, and everyone was very kind. It was very easy to learn teambuilding skills and effective communication tools through this camp, and I hope to be able to help you all do the same!”

When everyone is, once again, silent, Calliope nervously speaks, “okay… I can tell you all aren’t too thrilled about being here, but I’m… sure you’ll change your tune over time! Now, I have the speaking stick, and I’m going to pass it off to someone else… who wants to go first?”

“I’ll start!” The tall person with vitilgo stands up.

Calliope beams, and saunters over to hand it off, “yes, okay! Do tell us about yourself!”

“Well… my name’s Jade! I’m so happy to be here! Especially with my little cousin!”

Jade points to the short and fat kid who was lined up at the docks earlier. They nervously wave, then nervously turtle away into their jacket.

Jade giggles, then continues, “well… my hobbies are science and collecting Beanie Babies! I’m really excited to be here because I love to make new friends!”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Jade! Everyone say hello to Jade.”

“Hi, Jade,” an unenthusiastic chorus rings out from the Mess Hall.

“Now, Jade, choose who you want to speak next,” Calliope claps her hands together.

Jade looks around in thought, then she skips over and hands the stick to Rose. Rose seems surprised at this gesture, but stands up, gripping it hard.

“Okay… well, my name is Rose Lalonde. I am here with my dear older sister, Roxy,” Rose pauses in her speech to gesture to the tall pink haired girl, “on the business that our mother is going to be too busy to take care of us this summer. My hobbies are reading and collecting Troll dolls.”

Jade’s eyes light up, “I love troll dolls!”

A rosy blush (pun intended) paints Rose’s pale cheeks, and she giggles a little, “I brought a couple of them along with me. Perhaps if you stopped by my cabin at a later date today, we could observe them?”

“That sounds like fun! I’ll be over soon!”

Rose smiles gently and twirls a finger through her hair, watching Jade return to her seat. Calliope smiles.

“Alright, Rose, honey! Pass the speaking stick to someone else.”

“Very well,” her eyes scan around the room, like an evil drone searching for the hero in a movie. Her eyes land on John, and she coolly makes her way over, handing off the stick.

“Uh, alright, well,” John nervously stands, still shook from his encounter earlier, “I… I’m John and- shit- I’m John… Egbert, and I’m here because my grandma wanted me and my little brother to make more friends. I like… video games and swimming. Even though I don’t, uh, know how to swim, haha…”

The other campers snicker and whisper to each other, causing John to grow nervous. He quickly hands the stick off to the nearest person, which is Jake. Jake gives John a look, then stands up.

“Well… my name is Jake English… and as my brother, John, said before, we’re here because our grandmother wants us to make friends. My hobbies are taking care of animals and… taking walks, I guess…”

“Hi, Jake.” Everyone says.

Jake gives a devious look to John and walks over to Dirk, handing the speaking stick to him. He takes Dirk’s hand and softly helps him from his sitting position. Looking directly into John’s eyes, he gives Dirk a tight hug and runs back to sit down.

Dirk, in a blushy, embarrassed daze, scratches his head and looks around, remembering he’s currently the speaker.

“Oh- right. Hey, name’s Dirk, Here ‘cause my bro’s gonna be away for the summer filming a movie. My hobbies? Probably uhh... watching movies. And fixing things.”

Eager to take the attention off himself, he rushes off and hands the stick to the short person, who’s a table away.

“Wait-”

The attention is already on them. They groan, and stand, putting on their best fake smile.

“Hello! I’m Jane, and my hobbies are baking and taking walks…”

Their turn being quickly (and rather awkwardly) over, they hand off the speaking stick to Dave. Dave sighs - not so much out of annoyance, but a more positive emotion.

“Dave, Dirk’s brother. Hobbies are watching movies and drawing. I have nothing to say, except let’s get this summer over with. Who’s left?”

“Just me,” Roxy waves her hand eagerly.

“Cool, cool,” they meet halfway and the stick is handed off to its last owner for the summer, Roxy.

“Hiii! I’m Roxy, I’m here with my sweetest little sister, Rosie! I love cooking and science, but most especially science, it’s really fun.”

“Phew! We got through everyone! I’m glad,” Calliope says in her usual cheery tone, taking the speaking stick, “now, wasn’t that fun? I feel like I know all of you better now.”

Everyone glances around the room at each other, silent, but almost… trusting.

“Well… in a half an hour, we’ll be taking our first hike of the summer! Until then, you’re free to roam around or return to your cabins.”

The kids get up and start to leave, Jane making conversation with Rose to fill the silent air. John waits until Dirk exits the Mess Hall, then rushes out to catch up with him.

“Dirk! Dirk, wait,” he says softly, “I…”

Dirk promptly turns to John, “look, Egbert. I’m a pretty nice guy until you get on my nerves. And right now? You’re the lone thing hitting my nerves. You better stay out of my way, or it’ll mean trouble for you.”

John’s face scrunches up, “dude, I was trying to apologize.”

Dirk lowers his guard, “oh. Well I-”

“You know what? Just forget it. Leave me alone.” John hisses, stomping off.

He returns to his cabin, where his cabinmate is laying upside down on the armchair. John dejectedly slumps down on a kitchen chair.

“I don’t understand, Dave. I tried to apologize and everything.”

“To who?”

“Your brother. Dirk.”

Dave sighs, “just… try to give it time. Okay? You and Dirk didn’t exactly start off on the right foot. I’m sure the two of you will warm up over time.”

John groans, “I’m just so overprotective of Jake. I don’t want him getting hurt. I just wasn’t sure if I could trust Dirk. I guess I can, but….”

“Understandable,” Dave says, “if you explain to Dirk that your behavior was out of protectiveness, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“You know,” John says, turning to Dave, “you really are great.”

Dave snorts, “hey, you aren’t too shabby yourself.”

The next thirty minutes pass by in the blink of an eye. Before he knows it, John is rounded back up with the other campers and on some trail he’s never seen before. Calliope is babbling on and on about the history of the trail, but nobody is really listening.

John is walking with Jake in the back, when Jake suddenly falls out of line. John pauses upon getting a few steps away and turns. Jake is bent over, turned away so that his face isn’t visible.

“Jake? What’s wrong?”

John approaches gingerly. At first, he thinks Jake might be sick, but his thoughts change when he notices Jake holding a small green reptile. John tilts his head and leans over Jake’s shoulders, examining the creature. He almost jumps back when he notices-

“...How come this little guy has three eyes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS ALMOST THREE DAYS LATE FUCK. i worked on it a bit yesterday but i couldn't bring myself to finish it. but Hey, here it is
> 
> to make up for my Fuckery, this is the longest chapter yet
> 
> \---
> 
> catch us on tumblr! http://campblacklake.tumblr.com
> 
> \---
> 
> ask for my discord and tumblr!


	4. The Mouth Of The Lake (Is Laughin' At Us)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> putting notes at the beginning to warn you for animal death! there's a description of one and mentions of more later on. be safe kiddies!
> 
> \---  
> catch us on tumblr! https://campblacklake.tumblr.com/

“Hey, what’s the hold up back here?” The boys turn around to see Dirk, with Dave strolling up behind him.

“Uh, guys,” John awkwardly scratches at his leg, “do lizards usually have three eyes?”

“What kind of question is that, dude? Of course they don’t,” Dirk answers with a half-certainty, coming mostly in on the second sentence.

“I kind of find that interesting…”

Dirk pauses, giving his brain time to think about the situation. After a long moment, he gives Jake a halfhearted grin, trying to go along with what he clearly thinks is some shenanigan, “and why’s that?”

Jake holds up the small creature for the two Striders to see, “because we just found this.”

That slaps the look off Dirk’s face right quick, and he nearly leaps back in shock. Even Dave seems a bit surprised. Of course, it’s pretty hard to see, especially through those thick pairs of shades constantly over their eyes.

“How the hell is that possible?” Dave asks the question aloud - the one that everyone’s already thinking, but can’t seem to drum up an answer for.

“I dunno,” Jake mumbles, “do you think it could be like.. A fake eye or something?”

“Poke it to find out,” John suggests.

Jake recoils, offended, and gently holds the lizard away from John, “no way! That’s gross! And I don’t wanna hurt it!”

“Then let me do it,” John starts to approach, but Jake steps on his foot, causing him to hiss in pain, “OW! What the hell, Jake?”

“I won’t let you lay a hand on this precious baby. I’m gonna keep him….”

John puts his hands on his hips, and starts to speak in his lecturing tone, “Jake, having a pet is a huge responsibility-”

“WOAH! What’s that!?” The boys hear Jane’s voice boom from ahead. Curiosity quickly winning out responsibility, they all rush over.

“What’s up, Jane?” Dirk asks. They simply point up at a tree branch. The boys all look up and gasp.

Sitting on the tree branch of mention are four big birds, bright green on the stomach with light purple, dark orange, and indigo plumage on the feathers. Their beaks are long and sharp, with rather long talons, sporting a pair of bright red eyes.

“Holy shit,” Dave says, “what kind of bird is that?”

“I just checked the Counselor’s bird guide,” Rose says, running up with the mentioned book in hand, “there’s nothing on these birds.”

“Did we just… discover a new species of bird?” Jane asks in disbelief.

“I… believe that is the case,” Rose answers.

“We discovered a new species of lizard,” Jake says, holding out the since (un)forgotten three-eyed lizard.

“Does that thing have three eyes?! That’s disgusting!” Jane exclaims.

Jake huffs, “hey! It’s not disgusting! I think it’s cute…”

The birds seem to notice the lizard in Jake’s hand. They start making warped, garbled cawing and swoop down to try and grab at it with their long talons. Jake screeches and presses the lizard to his chest, rushing off.

“Oh shit!” Dirk yells, rushing off out of the crossfire after Jake. The others follow close behind.

Once they see Jade walking with Calliope up ahead, they start to slow down. The birds return, perched on the same tree… in the same position. John notices Jake shaking a little bit, so he approaches, and gently places a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Is your lizard okay, Jake?”

“I think it’s fine…” Jake whispers, “what WERE those things, anyway?”

“They aren’t like any birds I’ve ever seen,” John says breathily.

“They weren’t even in this handbook,” Rose joins the conversation through heavy breaths, looking over to the boys, “Calliope said it had every type of bird in it, too.”

“Hey, campers! What’s the holdup?” Calliope calls from ahead, waving to the children. Jade is still close behind her.

The kids all exchange glances, and wordlessly agree to start catching up. Once they’re close by Calliope again, she makes a point to start back up talk of the trail’s history. Which, once again, is tuned out by everyone except Jade. That is, until something catches her eye. Her seemingly never ending smile fades and is replaced with a look of shock and disgust.

“Miss Calliope, what happened to that rabbit there?”

Calliope pauses and marches backward, craning her head to look where Jade’s attention is focused. On the ground is a fluffy white rabbit, with claw marks on its side, dry, crusty blood seeping from its wounds. It’s laying there, unmoving. Next to it is a tree with unusually large claw marks - larger than any bear’s claws - and a bunch of snapped branches.

She makes to laugh nervously, rubbing her arm.

“Well, you see…”

“It’s dead, Calliope.” Jade’s voice is low, “something attacked it.”

Jade makes her way over to the dead animal and kneels down, giving its dirty fur a soft stroke. She fights back tears, and starts to dig up a hole to bury it in. Jake looks on in pity. He turns and hands John the lizard.

“Hold this,” he starts to walk over, but pauses and turns back, “and DON’T poke its eye!”

Jake kneels down next to Jade and starts digging in the soil with her. Jade pauses, to look over at him, but quickly continues her mission to create a makeshift grave for the animal. When a deep enough hole is made, she lays the rabbit in it and buries it.

“Um… your name is Jade, right?” Jake says, giving her an offhanded glance.

“Yes… and you’re Jake?”

“Yeah, that’s me…”

“Thank you for helping me,” she stands and helps Jake up with her strong arms.

“You’re welcome,” the two walk back to the line, “what do you think happened?”

“Those were some big claw marks; too big to be a bear’s….” Jade looks down in thought, “I just don’t know! It’s messing my brain up…”

“Maybe we shouldn’t think about it,” Jake says, falling in line with the group as they start pressing on, “it only hurts the brain, trying to think of the impossible.”

Jade brushes her fingers through her hair, speaking in her semi-deep voice, “yeah, I guess you’re right.”

John paces up next to Jake and hands him his lizard back.

“Here you go. Safe and sound.”

The group keeps on going, silently, aside from Calliope, distracted by her story. Rose falls behind, book hugged safely against her chest. The scene just gets more and more grotesque as they go along. The campers are beginning to seem visibly sick. Calliope is unaffected.

“Do you see it?”

“...Yeah,” John mumbles, “all the dead animals…”

“What do you think happened?” She asks coolly.

“I’m willing to bet they all got hurt by the same creature that rabbit did,” John replies, trying to be as cool, but failing.

“I’m just left to wonder what could have happened. What is causing these strange experiences?”

“Yeah… it’s really weird,” John say, voice soft.

“We’re finally here! Beautiful Blacklake… uh, Lake!” Calliope says cheerfully.

The water is deep, with a nasty colour to it - a blackish blue, thick and muddy. The name seems pretty self-explanatory now.

“Now, for the history of the lake!” The campers groan, but Callie continues, going on about how the lake was discovered and how the camp was founded.

Jake is looking at his lizard, petting its head gently, when suddenly he’s pushed into the lake! He lets out a loud scream along with the splashing noise. The lizard safely lands just next to the lake. John immediately springs into action, running over to find the culprit; a laughing Jane, guffawing with their hands on their chest. John grabs them by the collar.

“What the fuck is WRONG with you?!”

“Come on, it was funny!” They exclaim.

“No it wasn’t! Fuck you!”

“Campers, campers, PLEASE! Let’s all try to get along here,” Calliope quickly breaks up the two. John gives Jane a death glare, and they back up, seemingly afraid.

Jake, meanwhile, grabs ahold of the wet soil next to the lake and tries pulling himself ashore. He gets half of his body out, until his leg gets caught on something.

“John!” He shrieks, “John, I’m stuck!”

The elder brother runs to his little sibling and grabs onto him, trying to pull him out. Dirk is quick to aid him, pulling his new roommate from the lake with the help of John.

Something in the lake bubbles as Jake is freed.

Then, all is still.

“Are you okay?” John asks worriedly. Jake whimpers, and nods.

“I...I’m okay, don’t worry,” he looks at Jane, who looks back guiltily, “please don’t do that again, that was terrifying!”

Jane gulps as their eyes meet with John’s. John holds up a fist and Jane quickly looks back to the less threatening of the two brothers.

“I won’t, I’m sorry.”

Jake smiles as Dirk helps him up. Calliope awkwardly looks around.

“....Ooookay, well! Let’s head back, shall we?”

A few of the kids mumble an agreeing word or two and follow their counselor. John makes sure to walk with Jake - especially so no one plays another dirty trick on the poor kid.

“John?”

“Yeah, Jake?”

“Do you get the feeling that we forgot something?”

John thinks, looking upwards. After a moment, he shakes his head and speaks, “nah, nothin’ I know of.”

Jake shrugs and smiles awkwardly, “oh… okay, must just be my imagination.”

...Back at the lake, a certain three-eyed lizard is swallowed up by a long tongue spouting up from the deep, murky waters.


	5. Campfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the kids tell stories of themselves.
> 
> jake doesn't get too lucky.

The rest of the camp day is nervous; an almost scary, tense atmosphere lurking about the camp. All throughout the lunch period at Mess Hall, there just feels to be something… thick, one could perhaps call it, lurking in the air.

“So, you’re Calliope’s brother,” Dirk converses, watching the man in the kitchen work.

He looks similar to Calliope; tall, short white hair with green streaks, pale skin- dressed differently, however, in green suspenders and a black shirt. Not dressed in an apron or anything - thus, unsuited to handle the children’s food.

“What’s it to you, kid?” He glares.

“Nothing,” Dirk raises an eyebrow, “just trying to make friendly conversation, is all.”

That, and trying to take his mind off the sights he saw back on the trail.

“Well, kid, I’m not too friendly. So for the love of God, and all that is holy, take your food and get out of here,” Caliborn says.

Jake, who’s next in line, holding his tray, glares at Caliborn, then looks to Dirk, “Dirk, I think we’re done talking to this man. Let’s go.”

It isn’t until the milk-light glow of the big, bright moon sets in with her millions of children, the stars, that the campers reconvene; this time around a small fire after a dinner at Mess Hall, sitting upon old mossy logs and sharing stories of their intricate, divergent little lives.

“...and I noticed,” Jade pauses to lean forward, trying to keep her audience at the edge of their seats (logs?), “the poor puppy’s paw was hurt.”

“Oh no,” Jake looks on, intrigued and eager, but with sadness on his face, “what happened next?”

“You didn't leave it behind, did you?” Roxy asks, in between chewing a marshmallow.

“Of course not,” Jade answers, with a shake of her head thrown in for more emphasis, “I took it home, where I nursed it back to health.”

Jake’s face lights up, glowing like the raging fire they all surrounded, “did you keep it?”

“Did I ever!” Jade jumps up, “I've had him for years now. His name is Becquerel, but we call him Bec.”

“Pray tell, what breed is he?” Rose inquires, in a soft voice that can be heard just over the fire’s crackles and strong burns.

“Samoyed!”

“Aren’t those like,” Dirk pauses, making a gesture with his hand to find the words on the tip of his tongue, while leaned back coolly on one hand with the left leg curled slightly, “the really fluffy big white dogs?”

“Yup,” Jade says, a proud smile plastered on her face, showing off her (eerily familiar) buckteeth.

“That’s cool,” Dirk replies. He looks around awkwardly, pulling on the loose threads of his torn up jeans, “my life’s never really been too exciting.”

“Why is that? You seem like a pretty interesting person to me,” Jake wonders, brows furrowed in a manner that showed both confusion and interest.

The blond merely casts out a sigh, shifting his position so that both legs were planted firmly on the mossy grass, elbows resting against the fabric of his jeans, “I dunno? Guess I got hit a lot when I was younger.”

“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Jane says, their face filled with worry.

Even with his shades on, there was still visible feeling on Dirk’s face, “I’m not really sure what happened - I mean, what I did to make him hate me so much. He used to be a nice guy. He taught me how to do lots of cool stuff. I looked up to him, and respected him. We had a lot of good times together… but then he got older.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dave says, looking away. The fire burns between them, and not just literally, “I keep telling you that.”

Dirk’s gaze snaps to his brother, not in a malicious way, but in a fast, desperate kind of way, “but I know I must have had something to do with it. I don’t know what it is, but I know there’s something-”

The moment his voice cracks, threatening to shatter and spill the well-kept tears, Dirk hushes his voice, looking down. John, picking up this sign, clears his throat amidst the tense silence to speak (and hopefully to aid himself in getting on the right foot with Dirk again).

“This seems like a really touchy subject for you,” he starts anxiously, and some of the others nod in agreement, “do you want to drop it? We can, uh.. We can always talk about something else. Anything you want.”

Dirk takes an audible breath through his mouth to calm down and gazes back to everyone else. After a long pause, with only the accompanying crackle of the burning fire to aid in breaking the silence, he finally brings himself to speak.

“He hit me,” Dirk starts, “hit me a lot. He was always yelling at me and taking out everything on me. It was always my fault, no matter what I did, even if I was clear on the other side of town. It was always my fault. He never let up on me; it was this constant… warfare in the house. I never knew when he would spring out when I was just fucking.. I don’t know, eating or watching TV and yell _‘GOTCHA!’._ ”

The rest of the children look on in dolefulness, watching and listening to Dirk’s winded, discomposed rant about his older brother. John’s gaze finds its way over to Jake from the corner of his eyes, watching his brother get choked up from Dirk’s story.

“And it didn’t get much better when I was moved in with my other brother, Darien,” the story continues, “he’s never around. I’ve hardly seen him in the past couple years. I know he resents taking care of us- being out and living the dream of being a famous movie director and all, but he hardly even tries.”

After a pause for breath, it begins again, “he used to be so great. Him, Dallas and I were so close. They both used to be great people, and now they’re just… not, and I keep feeling like there’s no one to blame but myself,” a finished story with cheeks resting in his hands, elbows resting on legs.

“Dirk,” Roxy whispers, heartbroken by his tale.

“I,” the attention shifts to her, and Rose pauses, trying to think her words carefully. Finally, she sighs in defeat, “I.. wish there was something I could drum up that would assist your current situation; advice, kind words, anything... But I don’t have a single word to say this time. Probably partially because our stories are so different, yet so similar.”

“What do you mean?” Dave looks to her.

Rose looks to Dave, opening her mouth to speak, but pauses, gaze flying to her older sister, who squeezes her hand. This is all the consent Rose needs to begin their own story.

“Our aunt died when we were both very young,” Rose begins her narrative on a very heavy note, “she was lovely. Always kind and gentle and sweet, filling in the blots and gaps that our mother could not. One day she fell… very ill, and passed in front of the eyes of our mother and the two of us. Our mother fell very depressed and isolated herself… as a result, we were essentially left to raise ourselves.”

The pink haired sister looks away, hands clasped, slumped down.

“I know it wasn’t something meant to be a particularly wicked act, but I can’t help my grudge,” Rose sighs, “I suppose I’m happy that my mother has gotten better over the years, but she simply left us to rot here in this camp. She went on a spur about ‘going off to find the lost part of our family’, or something. I guess it is not all so bad, but you know… it still hurts.”

The lavender haired girl pauses, then closes her story off, “sometimes I just wish… well, no, no amount of wishing that I could do could possibly help, but… I wonder what things would be like if my aunt was still living. Things were so much simpler back then. If I had the option to go back to those days, I would do it in a heartbeat…”

“Rose, I’m so sorry,” Dirk says gently.

“You guys just seem so focused on the past,” John looks down at the ground.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“N-No,” John stammers, waving his hands in front of his face defensively, “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’m just saying, how can you move on to what will be if.. Uh, you keep focusing on what was?”

Rose and Dirk exchange glances offhandedly, then their eyes dart back to John.

“I mean, there’s like… there’s nothing I can really do to stop you. I know how comforting past memories can be, but sometimes you just… you kinda like, get stuck on them,” John awkwardly gestures with a hand, “but the here and now is important too, and we can’t… really move on from heartache until we let go of the past? I guess I’m just kind of rambling at this point, but maybe something made sense in there.”

“No, it made sense,” Dirk responds, then after an awkward pause, leans back, “...thanks, dude.”

“Yes, John, thank you,” Rose adds, her voice gentle.

John chuckles, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, “it’s no problem.”

There’s a drawn out silence, everyone processing the heaviness of the information that’s been dealt out tonight. It’s a silence no one seems to have the courage to break, as if saying another word would shatter the fragile, sacredness of John’s (albeit awkward) speech.

“Sometimes,” Jane starts suddenly after a long silence, “I wish people would see me for who I am.”

Everyone looks to them and they kick the dirt, “everyone always calls me a girl. But they don’t know me. They don’t see me as who I am.”

“You mean,” Rose pauses, “you aren’t a girl?”

“No!” Jane stomps up and shouts, tears in their eyes, “ _I’m a BOY!_ ”

“What?” Jade stands, “Jane, I had no idea…”

Jane nods, looking to his cousin, “yeah… I am.”

Jade takes a moment to process this info, then hugs her cousin tightly, picking him up and spinning him around happily.

“I’m so proud of you, Jane! So proud,” she cheers.

“AAH! Jade, put me down!”

“Oh, sorry!”

Once he’s set back down, he looks around at everyone nervously, rubbing his arm. He keeps opening his mouth, trying to drum up something to say, but when nothing comes out, he just covers his face with his hands and sighs.

“Please don’t hate me,” is all he manages.

“I don’t hate you,” Jake says, instantly standing up, “in fact… you and I are on the same page.”

“Wait, what?” Jane looks to him, surprised.

“I’m a boy, too.”

Jane stares at him like he had just seen the crowning of King Arthur. He was utterly astounded.

“Are we all revealing stuff about ourselves? If so, same,” Dave raises his hand.

After a pause, John stands, “and me, too!”

“The same for me!” Jade jumps up, but promptly pauses, thinks her words through and then speaks, "but it's more like... I'm a girl! Not a boy."

“Me too,” Roxy softly says.

Jane looks around at everyone, tears welling in his eyes again, but this time more out of joy and happiness and sadness and fear.

“Oh my god,” he simply mumbles, too dumbfounded to think of anything else to say.

“Well this has been… an eventful night,” Rose says, “it’s late, perhaps we should retire for the evening.”

There are mumbles of agreement upon the small sea of kids, and everyone gets up to leave. Jade pauses.

“Wait! Who’s gonna get the water to put out the fire?”

“Oh, I’ll do it!” Jake volunteers.

John looks on worriedly, “Jake, are you sure?”

Jake points to himself with his thumb and smiles, “of course I’m sure! I can handle it!”

“Maybe I should go with,” John suggests.

“No no,” Jake shakes his head, “I know I can handle it! Just trust me!”

“Okay! Alright! I can’t resist the puppy eyes…. Just please be careful, and check in with me before you go to bed tonight.”

Jake hugs his brother, “yay! I’ll be safe, I promise!”

And with that, he rushes off into the night, disappearing towards the lake. Dave puts a gentle, friendly hand on John’s shoulder, and John looks to Dave. He quickly looks away to hide his face heating up. The two turn heel and head off in the opposite direction.

~ ~ ~

_“Aw, c’mon Signy! Pleeeeease? Just let me scare this one kid. It’ll 8e funny!”_

_“N9, MINDFANG. I ALREADY T9LD Y9U, WE AREN’T G9ING T9 D9 THAT. ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT Y9U DID LAST TIME.”_

_“8ut I’ve told you! I’m 8etter now! I’m different, I swear I’ve changed!”_

_“H9W CAN I TRUST THAT Y9U’RE N9T LYING T9 ME?”_

_“Uggghh! Okay, come up and scare this kid with me. I won’t touch him or anything. Just trust me!”_

_“....9KAY, I TRUST Y9U. D9N’T BREAK THIS PR9MISE, MINDFANG.”_

_“Yeah, yeah! Here he comes. On three! One…”_

_“TW9…”_

_“THREE!”_  
~~~

Jake is humming a soft tune from one of John’s Nintendo games, gently dipping the wooden pail in the murky water to take back to the fire in order to lay it to rest. He gets up from his kneeling position on the cold grass, turning to leave, when suddenly he hears something in the water behind him. Briskly turning, he looks around, eyes wide.

“Hello? Is someone there?”

Nothing.

“...Okay,” he breathes out the breath he’s holding, speaking softly to himself, “it was just my imagination…”

The small boy turns again, about to head off when a loud splash is heard. Jake nearly trips over his own feet, whirling around as fast as he can.

Standing on the water are a giant crab creature and a giant spider creature. The crab is tall, taller than the spider, with a torn cape over his body, four human legs and two crab legs. The spider has long, flowy black hair with large horns on their head, as well as the body of a human… sewn onto the body of a tarantula.

Jake drops the pail, water spilling all over his feet. He can’t bring himself to run, legs too shaky to work. His heart pounding out of his chest, sweat rolling down his face, pupils small, breath coming in heavy buckets.

There’s silence as the spider crawls from the lake and over to him, sticking her face in his.

A pause.

“8oo.”

Jake screams as loudly as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *posts two chapters within the span of two days, waits two days, posts another chapter, rinses and repeats until i fucking die*
> 
> \--
> 
> check us out on tumblr! http://campblacklake.tumblr.com


	6. Feelings, Feelings, Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> john, dave, and dirk find jake.
> 
> mindfang and signless have a conversation.

“Yeah. I swear, I have no idea why she was so grossed out.”

John lays on his back, kicking his feet onto the arm of the couch belonging to the cabin of Dirk and Jake. The two Striders exchange a mutual look of disgust.

“I mean,” Dirk starts, resting his elbows behind him on the table, “Doritos on a cinnamon bun sounds pretty gross, dude.”

John snorts at him, “don’t knock it ‘til you try it.”

“I’d rather not,” Dirk replies, eyebrow raised.

“Always be open to new experiences, dude,” Dave says jokingly, glancing to an unamused Dirk.

“No.”

John laughs, resting his hands behind his head, “man, you two are great.”

“Thanks,” Dave says, resting a foot against the wall behind him, arms folded neatly, “I know I already said it, but you’re not too shabby yourself.”

John’s face heats up for a reason he can’t pinpoint, and he looks away, trying to drum up a response, but one thing only coming out awkwardly in response, “thanks…”

“Hey,” Dirk says suddenly, “where’s Jake? Shouldn’t he be back by now?”

John outright snaps up into a sitting position, “you’re right. It’s been a while now.”

Suddenly, a scream erupts from the distance. The boys’ eyes widen and they all jump up from their calm, relaxed positions.

“That sounds like Jake!” John wastes no time in rushing through the cabin and out the door, racing for the lake as fast as his legs could take him. He spares a single glance behind him and, to his surprise, sees Dirk and Dave trailing hot on his heels.

When the three boys arrive at the scene, they find Jake curled up on the ground, arms over his head protectively, water pail next to him spilling out quickly. He’s visibly shaking, breath coming in heavy buckets. The two Striders sandwich John in the middle of their brief but thorough lookout session - one that’s for naught, as no one else seems to be there.

“Jake?!” John runs over, kneeling down and gently shaking him, “Jake, it’s okay! It’s John, I’m here now…”

Jake looks up at his brother slowly and fearfully. Some colour returns back to his face when he sees John, Dirk, and Dave. Gingerly, John helps Jake into a sitting position, where Jake promptly hugs John tightly and starts crying into his chest.

“It’s okay,” John rocks him in his arms, “just let it out…”

“I should probably go put out the fire,” Dave says, grabbing the pail and going to fetch the water.

Jake’s grip tightens on John, sobbing harder, John grunts, feeling the air leave his lungs. He rubs Jake’s hair and shooshes him, keeping the gentle rocking pace. It takes a while - longer than it takes Dave to return - but Jake eventually falls into a gentle rest.

“He’s asleep,” Dirk says, voice low as to not wake Jake, “what now?”

John pauses, weighing his options carefully, then he sighs, “can you take him back to your guys’ cabin?”

Dirk seems thrown off by the request, “wait, are you sure? You actually trust me?”

The darker boy gives him an awkward kind of look, “sorta? I mean… Jake likes you, and you’re pretty cool.”

Dirk chuckles, “I’m gonna take that as a compliment. Now help me get your brother onto my back.”

“Be careful,” John tells him, more a warning to him than anything, as he helps Dirk place the sleeping Jake onto his back.

When the smaller boy is safely set in the destination of intent, the three (four) boys break for the night. Dave whispers a small goodnight to his brother before they separate, however, speaking gentle words that John can’t catch, due to the deafening chirps of grasshoppers and cicadas alike under the deep starry sky, singing a tune unknown to the minds and ears of humans. When things have been taken care of, Dave rejoins John’s side, and the two travel the short adventure back to their cabin side-by-side.

“What do you think happened?” Dave asks, opening the cabin’s rickety old screen door, making a barely audible groaning noise when it makes a loud squeaky sound.

“I don’t know,” John enters, mumbling a word of gratitude when Dave holds open the door for him, then sits down on the armchair kiddie corner to the couch, “I think the question here is what could have happened?”

“Maybe he saw an animal and it spooked him, or some shit,” Dave suggests, “like, it’s pretty late right now, and incredibly dark. He might’ve thought it was something else.”

“That could be it,” John rests his elbows against the leftmost arm of the chair, kicking his legs out off the rightmost arm, “it’s also possible that Jane could have pranked him again. But you better hope not, for his sake.”

Dave snickers softly and walks over to the doorway to his cabin room. He’s about to pull the curtain away, but then pauses, and looks back, “night, John.”

John looks back and smiles, “goodnight, Dave. Sleep well.”

When John hears the curtain shut, followed by the shuffles and shifts of Dave crawling into bed, he sighs in exhaustion. John gets up from his seat and retires to his own room for the night, changing into pyjamas that his grandmother forced him to pack. He lays in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

John starts thinking about Dave. He covers his face, bright red.

“Why do you make me feel like this?” He whispers to himself, “what is it about you that I don’t feel about others that makes my heart go so fast?”

John thinks about Dave’s smile. It’s more of a smug smirk that he’s seen from the other boy if anything, but nonetheless a smile. He thinks about how he wants Dave to be happy. Preferably by his own hand. There’s a pause, and John rolls onto his side, hugging one of the pillows.

After thinking about the long events of the day, John begins to drift off, the world of dreams consuming him whole.

~~~

_“See, Signy? That was a fucking 8last! Did you see that 8rat’s face when we scared him?” Mindfang asks with a shit-eating grin, her fangs bared._

_“YES, MINDFANG, I DID.” Signless responds to her, tone much too bored and unimpressed for her liking. She frowns._

_“C’moooooooooooon!” She whines, “you KNOW it’s hilarious. Why aren’t you laughing?”_

_“Y9U G9T A BIT T99 CL9SE F9R C9MF9RT T9 THAT KID.”_

_The spider creature groans, rolling her eyes, “I didn’t kill him, though! Just like I said I wouldn’t.”_

_“STILL.”_

_“Ugh, you’re SUCH a stick in the mud sometimes!”_

_Signless gives her a look, not a very good one, and then responds, “PERHAPS THAT’S A G99D THING, THEN. IT SEEMS T9 KEEP M9NSTERS LIKE Y9U D9WN T9 THE GR9UND.”_

_She crosses her two front arms, in a pouting notion that Signless can’t see because his back is turned. Her brain starts to give her ideas, however, and she grins. Quickly putting on a fake sad face, as well as putting her two front arms behind her back, she falsifies a glum tone that she speaks in, “what happened to you, Signless?”_

_Signless perks slightly, not in any positive emotion, moreso than curiosity, “...WHAT D9 Y9U MEAN?”_

_Mindfang places one arm on her cheek, “I mean.. I just… you used to have a sense of humour! We all practically worshiped you for how much of a funnyman you used to 8e. It hurts me so much sometimes.”_

_Signless turns, his face filled with some kind of worried feeling that Mindfang can’t put her stubs on, “I SWEAR I HAVEN’T G9NE ANYWHERE. IT WAS NEVER MY INTENTI9N T9 HURT Y9U, MARQUISE.”_

_“Then why have you changed?” Mindfang quickly counters, taking an acting step closer, “I feel like I’m talking to a cold, hard shell - no pun intended - of the guy that I used to know and 8e so very close with.”_

_“I…. I D9N’T KN9W,” Signless holds his head with his regular hand, “I’M S9RRY…”_

_“Loosen up a 8it,” Mindfang wraps an arm around him, “have fun. You and I can dou8le team. Scare those 8rats. It’s not hurting any8ody, y’know.”_

_“I MEAN… IT W9ULDN’T HURT,” Signless agrees hesitantly, then loosens awkwardly, “9KAY, SURE, I’LL GIVE IT A SH9T.”_

_Mindfang grins largely, “great! You should convince everyone else to join us, too!”_

_“I MEAN… SURE, I’LL TRY.”_

_“Great! See ya tomorrow then, Signy! 8uh-8ye!”_

_“BYE, MARQUISE.”_

~~~

“Rise and shine, campers! It’s time for your first official day at camp! Please make your way to the dock after you’ve eaten a hearty breakfast at the Mess Hall!”

Calliope’s voice stirs John awake from his dream - a vivid dream about running through a Mario level, collecting coins and grabbing mushrooms, the whole fiasco that was the game of Nintendo’s beloved mascot. Everything about the dream was perfect, which leaves John to wonder why he’s so unsatisfied.

Nonetheless, he prepares for the day, opting to throw his blue 1-UP cap on backwards over his messy hair as opposed to taking the time to brush it. This piece companions the white Camp Blacklake t-shirt and the sweatpants he’s too lazy to change out of, so he instead rolls up the legs.

“Mmmornin’,” John says sleepily, greeting Dave as he walks out from his room, dressed in a red tank that reads “ALL DAMN DAY”, with a sticky note over the M, replaced with an R, as well as some Nike gear, “what are you wearing?”

“My favorite shirt,” Dave says, throwing his t-shirt over the tank.

John snorts, rolling his eyes, “that’s so you, dude.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” Dave grins at him, echoing his brother’s words from last night, “wanna walk to the Mess Hall together?”

“Sure,” John says, a bit too excitedly for his own liking, as he finishes strapping his wrist brace on, “that’d be cool.”

As the two exit the cabin, John realizes why his dream wasn’t as satisfactory as he thought it would be.

Because Dave wasn’t there.

As the two arrive, they notice two of fellow campers, Jade and Rose, talking outside the Mess Hall. John rushes up to greet them, not eager, but more out of friendliness.

“Hey, guys,” John waves.

“Hey, John!” Jade says.

“Hello, John. And hello to you as well, Dave.” Rose greets, being her usual polite self.

“Hey,” Dave says simply, giving her a small wave.

“Dave and I were about to get some breakfast,” John says, gesturing to his companion behind him, “did you want to join us?”

“Oh, sure!” Jade exclaims, reaching to hold the door open.

Dave, John, and Rose all enter, Rose offering a ‘thank you’ in place of her two priors, Jade quickly entering after. They head up to the line to grab their trays and see what’s on the menu today- and are greeted by a less-than-happy Caliborn behind the counter.

“Good morning, Caliborn!” Jade greets happily, despite his obvious rankle with having to serve the children.

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles, slapping pancakes onto John’s tray, “move along, boy.”

“Jeez,” John raises an eyebrow, “why are you so rude, Mr. Caliborn?”

“Because, I don’t want to be here with any of you,” Caliborn says through gritted teeth, “now move along.”

“God, fine,” John says, sliding his tray along to grab a milk and then heading off to find a table for himself and his friends.

The other three children join him when they’ve been served. Jade takes initiation to keep the air from growing awkward, talking loudly and telling stories of everything and nothing at all. She’s… genuinely interesting, and John notices this.

It’s not too long after that the rest of the campers begin to file into the building, chatting with each other joyfully. John gives Dirk a sly look as he passes, giving Dirk the signal to let go of Jake’s hand. They seat themselves at the table across from the other four kids. Everyone is getting along swimmingly. It makes John feel… happy to see his little brother interacting peacefully with other children his age.

When breakfast time rolls past, and everyone has since finished, they all file out together and out to the dock, looking out into the deep, murky waters. Jane looks on in disgust, sticking his finger in it before promptly pulling it back out.

“The water is so thick,” he says, “it’s nasty.”

“It looks as if the lake here has not been cleaned in years,” Rose adds.

“It’s icky,” Jake sticks his tongue out, then pauses, “I kinda have a bad feeling about this lake-”  
“Hello, campers! Sorry that I’m late!” Calliope comes rushing up, clipboard in hand, “please line up!”

The teens exchange looks, obeying the request. John peers down the line, his eyes landing on Dave for a short amount of time, then shooting to Jake.

The white-haired woman rests her clipboard under her arm, clapping her hands together, “okay, campers! Today we’ll be doing something very fun - swimming!”

Not noticing his own face going lighter himself, John watches Jake’s face pale.


	7. Follow Your Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> john learns some things about himself.

“Um,” Jake interjects softly, trying to deter the counselor from the idea without hurting feelings, “Miss Calliope, we don’t know what’s in the lake… I don’t think this is a very good idea, honestly.”

“Psh,” Calliope rolls her eyes playfully, making a gesture with her hand, encased in a dirty white glove that wasn’t there the day before, “I’ve been in this lake plenty of times! There’s nothing dangerous about it.”

“But-”

Calliope wags her finger, “no buts! We don’t get to skip out on camp activities! Get your swimsuits, children!”

Less than content with the activity, the kids disband to return to their cabins to retrieve their respective outfit of mention. All except Jake and John, who approach Calliope to speak with her about two divergent topics.

“Ah, Miss Calliope,” Jake tugs on her coat, causing her to turn around, “are you sure that there’s nothing in that lake? Nothing you know about?”

John strolls up behind Jake, raising an eyebrow as she gives a look of thought, and for a split second, John swears he can see Calliope smile, “no. Nothing that I know of, dear. I’m positive you’ll be safe.”

Jake seems hesitant, but he nods and turns away, jumping when he sees John behind him.

“Oh, hello John,” he waves awkwardly.

“Did you sleep well?” John asks.

“Fairly,” Jake responds, voice soft, but John knows he's lying, judging by the bags under his eyes.

“Well, I mean, better than nothing,” John shrugs.

“I suppose,” Jake says, kicking the dirt awkwardly, “so… I’ll see you in a bit, then?”

“Yeah,” John says, “be safe.”

Jake smiles at him warmly (albeit awkwardly, but the sentiment is still there), and heads back to his cabin. John watches him disappear up the hill for a moment, then turns to look at Calliope, rubbing the back of his head.

“So, uh… here’s the deal. I might have forgotten my swimsuit, and I can’t really go shirtless in the water,” he explains awkwardly, partially hoping to get out of the swimming activity.

“Oh,” Calliope perks up, “that’s alright! We have a bunch of spare shirts that you can borrow, just look in the barrel in the corner of the bathroom!”

John sighs, disappointed, but nonetheless politely thanks his counselor and follow’s in Jake’s previous footsteps, but breaking off to make a different path to venture to the men’s room. He steps in, his gaze shifting to the corner on the side with the stalls to find the mentioned barrel.

It’s… quite frankly in disgusting shape. There’s mold growing out from behind the barrel, a leak in the ceiling traveling directly into a puddle right next to it. On top of that, there’s a bunch of flies swarming around it. John grimaces, trying to hold his breakfast in. He takes a nervous step closer to the barrel and reaches in, grabbing the first shirt he can find and backing away.

Luckily for him, the shirt seems to be about his size, and that’s all John needs. He slides the shirt on and rushes out, ignoring the sharp pain stabbing into his feet from his flip flops as he runs to meet everyone back at the dock. It seems he’s just in time; everyone else is arriving in their swimgear as he skids to a stop by the docks.

Once everyone reconvenes, Calliope leads the campers into the lake. She sits on the edge of the dock, watching over them, her feet dipped in the murky water, enjoying it without a care. John, who is sitting at a very shallow edge with Jake, stares at her and is left to wonder why.

Jake looks around, eyebrow quirked, then sniffs the air, “does something smell weird to you?”

“Smell weird how?”

“Like… like blood?”

John takes a whiff of the air and pauses when he smells the scent of old pennies, craning his neck downwards and grabbing up the collar of his shirt to smell the shirt he’s wearing. His fears are then confirmed - the nasty scent is coming from him.

“It’s my shirt,” he mutters, embarrassed, under his breath, “I can’t change into another one; they all smell like this.”

Jake thinks for a moment, then suggests, “how about we go swimming a little? Maybe the water will wash out the smell?”

John groans, “do I really have a choice?”

“I know, I don’t like it either,” Jake agrees, squeezing his eyes shut tight, “I think something lives in this lake… let’s just stay in the more shallow parts.”

The older boy rubs his head and sighs, letting Jake take his free hand and lead him out into the water. He tries to hold onto Jake without making it blatantly obvious that he has to do so, opting to wrap an arm around his waist. He looks around, letting himself dip just a bit further into the water as to submerge his nasty-smelling shirt, but he pauses when he spots Dave.

Dave’s hair is wet from dipping under the water, thick shades off for the first time, revealing a pair of ruby red eyes. His shoulders are above the water just enough to reveal a loose green t-shirt, sleeve slipping off one tan, freckled shoulder. He’s got a soft, happy grin on his face, splashing Jade and Dirk with water.

John feels his heart start to beat very quickly. His brain fuzzy, he loses feeling in his hands, grip slipping from Jake’s waist. When he gains himself, he’s slipped, and sunk underwater. Quickly holding his breath, he makes a fuss, splashing about to try and get attention.

John feels something pulling at his leg. He goes to scream, but remembers right quick he’s underwater and throws a hand over his nose and mouth, trying to jerk away from the threat. He’s losing air quickly, his gaze growing fuzzier, everything getting dark. He hardly sees when two figures swim underwater and snatch him up by the wrists, pulling him to shore, until he’s laid on his back on the grass.

He faintly sees Jake and Dave looming over him, his heavy breath louder than their calling voices, blurry gaze going dark as he passes out cold.

Things seem to pass by just like that, in the blink of an eye, and John wakes up in a room he’s never seen before. On a leather bed with a dim light hanging over him. There’s a rather tall cabinet backed up against one of the walls. It’s very faint, but he can hear arguing outside of the door. Taking a quick moment to get his head on right, he gets to his feet and presses his ear up against the door. Closer observation reveals it’s Calliope and Caliborn.

“So you just let them swim in the lake anyways?” Caliborn asks, some kind of anger and shock in his voice.

“I, I just thought,” Calliope sputters, her voice clouded.

“It doesn’t matter what you think,” Caliborn snaps, “you KNEW something lives in that lake and you let those kids swim in it anyways.”

“I’m so sorry,” Calliope whimpers.

“You aren’t sorry. We both know that. Now, I’m gonna check up on John,” Caliborn’s voice gets close to the door.

John scrambles back to the bed and practically bellyflops onto it, hugging the pillow and acting like he’s been trying to sleep. Caliborn opens the door and walks over to John, looming over him. He sighs.

“I know you’re awake,” he says, crossing his arms, “you’re in a different angle then you were before.”

John nervously opens one eye and sighs, sitting up. Caliborn doesn’t seem all too annoyed for once, despite trying to look the part. John rubs the back of his head, trying to drum up something to say. Did Caliborn know he was eavesdropping? John sure hopes not.

“What happened?” Caliborn asks, arms folded over his chest.

“I was just swimming with my brother,” he sputters, “then I saw Dave and I got all weird and then I was drowning. Now I’m here.”

“You got all weird?” Caliborn raises an eyebrow, and John can’t tell whether or not he’s being made fun of.

“Sorry, uh,” he kneads his knuckles against the bed, “I meant like… it was kind of like this light feeling? I usually feel it when I’m around Dave. My heart was pounding and my head was spinning. I think he makes me sick or something.”

Caliborn looks at him like he lost his mind, “kid,” he says, “I don’t know how I can sugarcoat this. It’s right in front of your eyes.”

“Uh... “ The tall boy furrows his eyebrows. Caliborn slaps a hand over his face.

“You’re in love with him, you idiot!” The white haired man yells, throwing his arms up.

John freezes, and his face heats up, “um, what? There’s no way. I just met him yesterday.”

“Feelings are feelings,” Caliborn says, making sure to put emphasis on every single word, “everything you’re experiencing are feelings of having a crush!”

John looks down, face red.

“Well, if you know so much, then what should I do?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Caliborn says, “ask him out or something.”

“I can’t do that!” John waves his hands in front of his face, “he’d reject me for sure!”

Caliborn groans, “fine, whatever. Anyways, you’re fine, so just leave the infirmary and get to the Mess Hall. Lunch is soon.”

John glares at him, and gets up to leave, but he pauses in the doorway.

“Can I ask one more question?”

The older man looks at him from the corner of his eye, “what?”

“Why do all the shirts in the bin in the boys room smell like blood?”

Caliborn turns his head, “excuse me?”

John turns back, “my brother said they smell like blood. Or at least the one I was wearing, anyways.”

Caliborn suddenly grows visibly uncomfortable, and in a low voice, responds, “I don’t even know where they came from, or how they got there.”

John swallows the fearful lump forming in his throat, and nods, “t...thanks.”

As he exits the infirmary and enters the daylight while walking down the wooden ramp, beams of sun cut up into pieces and separated by the long trees, there’s only two things on his mind: Dave Strider and a phone call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long delay! i haven't had motivation to work on anything recently ): but we're back in business, and hopefully so for a long while!
> 
> \--
> 
> johndave-esque chapter written as a bday gift for my lil bro!!!!!! i love u soooooo much jude!!!!!!! ♦♦♦♦♦
> 
> \--
> 
> catch us on tumblr! http://campblacklake.tumblr.com


	8. (Un)pleasant Disappointments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang start to grow suspicious of calliope's activities.

John can’t help but feel like Caliborn was making fun of him when he was in the infirmary. But at the same time… the man showed an almost tender side? A side of which he isn’t entirely convinced comes out a lot, especially when dealing with children, but mostly just generally. Thinking about what he said about Dave is no help to his current situation, either- it just causes more and more questions to rain down from his mind.

Finally, after futilely attempting to think of answers for his own inquiries over and over, a defeated sigh punches itself from the lungs of the teen, and he simply retreats back to the comfort of his and Dave’s cabin to change out of the uncomfortably disgusting shirt and the damp swim shorts. The entire time, an uneasy sort of feeling is floating around in the out of his stomach. John can't seem to stop himself from checking if someone or something is behind him.

Deciding that sitting around most likely isn't a good option (especially given that one of his counselors told him to go somewhere specific), John slides on his tennis shoes and rushes to the end of the camp. His breath coming in like a staticky television, he opens the door and sits down at one of the tables in the Mess Hall, tracing shapes with his pointer finger on its cold surface.

Before long, just as Caliborn stated, the rest of the campers flood into the building for their afternoon meal. John’s eyes lock with Jake’s, and Jake rushes over to the table, tackling John into a hug, the force nearly knocking the two onto the floor.

“John! Are you okay?! I was so worried, oh god,” Jake snuggles his face into John’s shoulder, a soft whimper slipping past his pursed lips.

John un-hugs him. Hands placed firmly on his little brother’s shoulders, with a slight warm smile, he states, “big brother’s alright, Jake. I’m here now, and I’m okay.”

Jake flashes a pair of doe eyes and crushes John in another hug. The elder brother chuckles gently and rubs his back.

“Everything okay over here?”

John looks up from the tender embrace he’s sharing with Jake to see Dirk. He’s standing back somewhat awkwardly, one palm flat against the table. John snorts and pulls away from Jake, putting his hands on his hips.

“We're fine here, thanks,” the boy says to his peer, sliding his hands from his hips to his jeans pockets.

Jake lets go of John and looks at the other two boys, standing awkwardly and staring at each other. He starts to stifle a giggle behind his hand when the door slams open, Caliborn entering.

Fists clenched, shoulders tight, brows furrowed and low, he practically radiates anger as the silent Mess Hall echoes his footsteps against the hard floor. He makes brief eye contact with John, and stares at him for a split second with some kind of knowing emotion in his features.

“Line up and get your damn food,” Caliborn yells - not necessarily in an angry kind of way, even, just being loudly. John isn’t affected, but the others seem pretty upset.

John makes eye contact with Caliborn when the man slaps his food down on his tray. They share some kind of knowing look. Knowing what, exactly? Well, John isn’t sure of that, but all he can really say is that it has something to do with Calliope.

Something bad.

“Is this seat taken?”

John looks up from stabbing the food on his tray with a fork to see Dave, tray in hand, looming above him. The faint, rosy hue of a doll paints his cheeks and he scoots over. Dave sits down and flashes him a brief smirk.

“Hey, you didn’t seem too hot out there,” Dave starts.

You did, John wants to say, you looked really hot.

He stops himself. He doesn’t even notice that Dave is still talking when he comes back into reality, having lost himself in the sound of his voice.

“John?” At the mention of his name, he snaps upright, half-lidded eyes opening all the way.

“Sorry.”

“It’s cool. You good?”

John nods, wordlessly, and turns back to eat finally, after playing with his food for some time there. There’s some light conversation exchanged between the two - nothing too extensive or out-of-this-world, just simple apologies when one’s elbow would bump into the other and such.

Awkward.

It’s probably because he stared at Dave for an uncomfortable amount of time when he was talking, John tells himself. Or maybe it’s just because Dave felt like John didn’t care what he had to say? It’s really the opposite. John cares. John cares immensely.

More than Dave will, unfortunately, ever catch onto.

His little brother seems to be having a lot more luck than him. John feels a pang of extreme jealousy in his chest, watching Roxy, Jane, Dirk, and Jake all chat the afternoon away gleefully. It almost feels like they've been friends their whole lives. Maybe an outsider looking in would think that?

John realizes he doesn't know much about Jake at all. He feels guilty, not just for that, but for getting so furiously envious of how many friends Jake is making. Jake has always been the odd man out because of his interests and the way he dresses and such. This is an achievement for someone like him. He should be proud.

He's made the friends that John has always wanted, after all.

Except he’s not.

...Because meanwhile, John struggles with keeping just one friend. Are he and Dave even friends? Well, they are cabin mates, and they did have a full-on discussion about Nintendo and SEGA. Maybe Dave considers him a friend after that?

He honestly kinda hopes so, because Dave is super cool.

Later that afternoon, after lunch, the campers are all hanging out in the Mess Hall. Honestly, who knew it’d be so difficult to fit four people on one bench? Everyone is chatting eagerly, either way, speaking about stories from their home lives, highlighting the greatest parts of it, and so on.

John is staring off into the kitchen, watching Caliborn move freely. Something about the air feels very… strange. Off? Something is missing, maybe? John can't tell what it is for the longest time, until it just hits him like a truck.

Calliope isn't here.

She's not there guiding the children through camp activities with her strange accent and telling them the camp’s history, trying (and failing, rather miserably at that) to bring fun to the daily lives of the campers.

What's even stranger is when she does show up.

Calliope rushes in with her clipboard resting awkwardly under her arm. When her gaze meets with John, she looks as if she's almost pleasantly disappointed that he had walked out of the infirmary fine earlier in the afternoon. John offers back an upset, suspicious kind of look. She seems nervous, but passes off her apparent anxiety with a smile, greeting the campers and getting started on the next activity of the day.

The rest of the day seems to pass by in a few short blinks of an eye. The stars are shining in the cold evening sky, the fire warming the campers as they huddle around it, chatting about some baseball game or something. John doesn't really listen in. Sports aren't his thing. He'd probably start a conversation up about Mario if he wasn't thinking so intently about everything that happened today.

He can't be the only one thinking something's wrong here, right? Or maybe he's just paranoid, and nothing's wrong at all. Either way, he wants to see.

Finally mustering up the courage to bring up what happened, John takes a breath and speaks.

“Hey, guys,” John says, everyone looking to him. He furrows his eyebrows, making sure to pick his next choice of words carefully.

“Does anyone else think the counselor here is a bit, well…. Off?”

“I kinda noticed it too,” Jane mumbles, “you definitely aren’t alone there, buster.”

“It’s a bit creepy,” Rose agrees, then adds after a beat, “especially how sweet she is.”

“It’s not like a caring kind of sweet,” Dirk notes, “it’s almost like… sickening.”

“Golly…” Jane whispers under his breath.

“There was a small barrel of swim shirts in the boy’s room,” everyone turns their attention back to John, who chokes out, “they smelled like… like blood.”

The campers fall silent.

“It’s not really blood, though, right?” Jade inquires, breaking the glassy silence. A wave of uncertainty sweeps across the children.

“I don’t know what else it could possibly be,” Rose resonates.

“But… why?” Roxy turns to face her sister, fear in her eyes.

“I don’t know,” if Rose’s pale face were any paler in this situation, she'd be a child with a sheet ghost costume on Halloween night.

It sure feels like Halloween night, anyways.

John notices Jake’s offput expression. He's uncomfortable, deep in thought about something. Probably something bad. John thinks back to last night. Jake had never been so upset in his entire life. Not that he's seen, at least. And he’s seen a lot of Jake’s emotion in his life. He’s hyperempathetic, grandma calls it; he feels emotions strongly, very strongly - stronger than most people. It never really gets too difficult for John to tell what Jake’s feeling, at least, even with his ADHD.

Thoughts, though, is a completely different story. Jake’s brain is everywhere with his autism, not unusually. Perhaps he's thinking of last night, down by the lake? The more John thinks about it, the likelier the outcome seems. Either way, John decides to speak up.

“Jake?” Jake cranes his head upwards at the sound of his brother calling his name, “are you okay?”

Jake pauses, thinking his words through very carefully, before replying, “do you think she knows something lives in the lake?”

Another silence; this time much more tense.

“Something's up with that woman,” Dave says, startling everyone out of silence, their heads nodding and shifting to look at another, “and something's definitely up with this camp.”

“I think it's up to us to get to the bottom of it, then,” Dirk says in response to his brother. A feeling of dread settles in the pit of John’s stomach.

What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA U THOUGHT I WAS DEAD??? hahahaha i did too its aight
> 
> oh my god i'm so sorry this is like over a month late, i took a one week break and then just couldn't get back into the swing of things. i'd been hiding this from the rest of the blacklake staff and writing it at random times, but never really got the attention span to focus on the full chapter at one point like i used to.
> 
> i don't go to school, so this is (hopefully) going to be updated weekly now? we'll just have to see. either way, i'm still trucking through, so don't worry about me!
> 
> \--
> 
> follow us on tumblr! http://campblacklake.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> WHOO, okay! haven't written a story in ages. sorry about that radio static, folks.
> 
> here's a new series a bunch of pals and i are working on - camp blacklake!
> 
> check us out on tumblr: http://campblacklake.tumblr.com
> 
> \--
> 
> ask for my tumblr and discord~


End file.
